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Augusta spending $660,470 to rent office space

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The city of Augusta is spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to rent office space for municipal workers.

The Augusta Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/Q7uUlV ) that city Finance Department records show the city is budgeted to spend $660,470 on rent this year. That's more than Augusta spent on rent a decade ago, despite the city having a municipal building with three vacant floors and a half-dozen surplus buildings being sold at auction.

The newspaper reports nearly 83 percent of the city's rent payments are going to three landlords who are each getting paid more $176,000.

Rick Acree, Augusta's deputy director for facilities maintenance, says the city has been cutting back on rental space and is spending less than it did five years ago.